Josh Imhof | news editor

Dolly Parton, the singer-songwriter who escaped extreme poverty in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, but never forgot where she came from died Aug. 25 after a battle with cancer. The 80 year old put together a more than 60 year career that revolved around her philanthropy as much as it did her music.

Born in Sevier County, Tennessee, Parton had 11 siblings in a rural cabin with no running water or electricity. She began performing songs as a child and never looked back, topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart twice and having three songs crack the top 10.

She was one of the few remaining pieces of the American monoculture that dominated the 20th-century, a culture that has permeated through some Duquesne students.

Maison Wolfe, junior music education major, found Parton’s music through Kenny Rogers and their collaboration on the song “Islands in the Stream.” After doing a deep dive into her catalog, he found that her personal story added an entirely new dimension to her music.

“You find out that Dolly Parton grew up in a shack in the Smoky Mountains, and she had 11 siblings,” Wolfe said. “It’s kind of crazy that she really started poor with nothing.”

Parton’s song “Coat of Many Colors” explores these themes as she retells the story of a jacket her mother made for her out of rags someone donated to their family. Despite being made fun of for wearing it, she was always proud of it and hoped she could convey to people that they could be rich without being wealthy.

While the real “Coat of Many Colors” has been lost to time, a replica of it is displayed at her amusement park, Dollywood. The park has become the largest employer in Sevier County, with 2,809 employees according to the Sevier County Economic Development Council.

The late singer had done a seemingly endless list of good deeds, even more impressive than her six-decade discography.

Two years after Dollywood first opened in 1986, Parton started the Dollywood Foundation which promised 7th and 8th graders in Sevier County $500 if they graduated high school.

In 2000, she expanded on this by launching the Dolly Parton Scholarship, which gave five high school seniors in Sevier $15,000 upon graduating.

“That’s one thing that’s unique about her,” Wolfe said. “More than other artists she kept passing down the torch.”

Parton didn’t just pass down the torch philanthropically, but also lyrically.

The artist regularly collaborated and helped mentor younger artists like Miley Cyrus and Sabrina Carpenter, most recently featuring on a rerelease of Carpenter’s song “Please Please Please.”

“That’s why I’m doing music education,” Wolfe said. “I want to spark the flame in people. There’s no better high than here’s this blue’s lick and they get it and they are so happy that they pull emotions out.”

In addition to Parton, Tim Curry, famous for his lead role in “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and Peter Cullen, longtime voice of Optimus Prime passed away.

Even though most people have never personally met these celebrities, counselors Connie Kramer and Kristi Carnahan said these losses can feel extremely personal.

“When we think about [Parton] being someone who came to the end of her life, it sort of taps into our own mortality because we remember when she was young and vibrant and full of life and it feels like it wasn’t that long ago,” Carnahan said.

Kramer said talking these feelings out is helpful to working through them.

“I think some of it is just kind of really simple things,” she said. “‘Tell me about what you’re experiencing,’ or ‘I really want to be with you. How can I support you? What do you need right now? What will be helpful for you?’”

In the end, Carnahan said the best way to process grief is by confronting it.

The only way out is through,” Carnahan said.

Josh Imhof can be reached at imhofj@duq.edu